Lando Norris explains radio intervention from McLaren chief at US GP - 'I don't like that'

revealed that he 'doesn't like that kind of stuff normally' when asked about the in-cockpit coaching from race engineer Will Joseph during qualifying at the , insisting that his colleague's words were not what helped him deliver a sixth pole position of the campaign.

Heading into qualifying there were fears in the McLaren camp that Norris could be looking at a start on the second or third rows of the grid following a concerning sprint race in which his pace rapidly deteriorated in the closing stages.

After the first two rounds, these fears looked accurate, but on his first lap of Q3 Norris announced his arrival in the fight for pole position with a sensational lap. looked on course to beat it on his final run, but George Russell's crash in sector three waved off all attempts and secured the McLaren man's position at the front of the field.

Norris had some help on the way too. During the session, race engineer Joseph came onto the radio to tell the championship contender to "trust the car" and that if he did, "lap time will come". This message was featured on the TV broadcast.

However, Norris was not delighted with Joseph's interference on the radio. "It's a very rare thing," he explained after the session. "He knows I don't like that kind of stuff normally.

"It's just because I said after Q2 I was not confident at all in the car. I was bouncing everywhere and I just lacked confidence at that point to put a good lap together. And I'd been struggling in Turn 1, been struggling in Turn 12.

"But we were there or thereabouts. It was more just: 'Let's get a good lap in and be there'. So that's what I did. Whether or not what I did was because of Will's comments, I'd probably say no, otherwise I'll boost his ego too much...

"But I probably needed it a little bit just because I was struggling a lot with the car and we've been a bit off this weekend. A little kick never hurts sometimes."

Norris has his work cut out for him as he looks to turn his pole position into a fourth Grand Prix victory of the year. The Brit did not have the pace to challenge title rival Verstappen in the sprint race and Red Bull's upgrades looked to have made the RB20 a much more worthy adversary for the MCL38 with six races remaining of the 2024 season.